The Eyes of Many
By Cypresswind Synopsis Jaypaw is a blind cat who knows far more than he should. He was born with unimaginable power, the ability to stare into another cat's soul. He knows everyone's secrets, and the merciless truth is killing him from the inside out. Underground lies Stick, who has seen the world through the eyes of all who have been marked on their body. Stick is trapped with Rock, a deranged ghost, and Stick is trying to figure out where the kind Stoneteller ends and the malevolent spirit begins. When their paths collide, Jaypaw discovers that the truth destroying him may not be truth at all, and Stick discovers that there may be more to this snarky apprentice than it seems. Chapter 1 Stick is born when the first sunrise engulfs the world in flames. They live to see the first of life crawl out of the mud. They live to see civilizations rise and fall. They live to see the century turn, again and again and again. They live these years, in the heart of mountains, in dark tunnels, in scorched, barren lands. Stick does not have eyes, so they borrow the eyes of others. The eyes of small insects that will not last the day. The eyes of snails, trapped in their palaces of shell. The eyes of cats, hunting and fighting and loving and hoping. The eyes of wolves, watching, always watching. They meet Rock on a winter morning where the sun shines but provides no warmth. Stick has been abandoned yet again, buried in a blanket of snow. Rock, a young, handsome cat steps on Stick. First he is angry, but he forgets a second later, catching up to his patrol, ordering them around with arrogance. He doesn’t know it yet, but pride will be Rock’s downfall. They meet again years later. Rock is dead and different. His glossy pelt has left him. His muscles have dissipated, and Rock is nothing but skin and bones. And the eyes. Rock’s eyes, once his most loved feature, once crackling and vivid now bulge from his sockets as if they had been removed, replaced and shoved back in. Rock blames Stick. “You. You. It all ended the day I stepped on you. It all went downhill. Your whispers. Why can’t I understand them? I was exiled because of you. Heretic. Insane. You and your cursed whispers, your sirens song. Leave me alone!” Stick learns that Rock had a power, one of three. Rock could stare right into a cats soul. He saw what did not exist, in this life. He knew the truth, and only the truth. He knew what would happen, the next moment or in a thousand years. The spirits say one day there will be another. Rock takes Stick, enslaves them in a dark tunnel and marks judgement onto their body. A new group of cats, this time by a lake. To come of age, a cat it required to enter the tunnels and make their way out. Rock knows who will pass and who will fail, and he engraves it onto Stick’s body, everyday. Then the cats leave. They go to the mountains that Rock once knew. For years, Stick is alone with nothing but a crazy recluse and a bright soul named Fallen Leaves, stuck in the tunnels, trapped. Just like Stick. When the next set of Three arrive, Stick can see it, feel it. Two sisters, alone in the woods. One screams, delivering forbidden kits. The other is frantic, in the position that usually belongs to her sister. Three kits are brought into the world. Two are anomalies, like Rock, already ostracized despite their innocence. The other is normal. Rock knows too. “Why? What have I done? Why must I lie to this black she-kit, weave her entire world out of false truths?” Fallen Leaves just watches, in love with the miracle that is life. Rock’s incarnate is blind, sharing the same curse as Stick. They call him Jaykit. Jaykit, cursed to never see the world through eyes he can call his own. Stick watches them grow from afar for the first six moons. They see Hollykit learn to live by the warrior code. They see Lionpaw, the incarnate of Rock’s sister Aspen, befriend a smoky – eyed she-cat from across the border. They see Jaypaw, enrapt with Stick’s whispers that drove Rock mad. They see those three siblings, run through the tunnels, pray for death to pass them by. Stick knows they will not. Even as Rock makes eight lines in their body. Even as he waits. And waits. And finally crosses through the lines that stand for their lives. Category:Fanfiction Category:Cancelled Fanfiction